Lucy Charles-Barclay likely to miss first PTO race after tearing her calf in Kona

On January 30 the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) will announce its Tour schedule, along with the athletes who will be taking part, but one of the main players looks like she’ll have to skip the first race of the season. In a new video on her YouTube channel, Ironman world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay disclosed that she had torn her calf on her way to the win in Kona, and that she’ll likely have to skip the first race of the Tour.

It’s long been known that Lucy Charles-Barclay is both incredibly competitive and incredibly tough, so it’s hardly a surprise that the British star would push through the pain in order to take the win. After finishing second four times in Kona, Charles-Barclay was determined to move up a spot on the podium.

“I really had to be mentally strong … and just know that no amount of pain I was enduring was going to be worse than not winning this race,” she said.

Charles-Barclay had felt issues in her calf during the week leading up to the world championship, then felt her calf tear about one mile into the marathon. Scans after the race showed that she had a tear in her gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. Extensive rehabilitation has finally got her back to fitness and she’s ready to start training, but says she will likely require a bit of time to get race ready. A scan on Jan. 2, 2024 showed that she’s made “a really good recovery … and she’s able to reintroduce running.”

“We’re going to do that really gradually,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any point in me rushing back to racing, so you may not see me racing at the first race of the season, but I hope to be at the second race.”

Charles-Barclay is currently at a training camp at Club La Santa in Lanzarote.

While we’re waiting for the announcement of the full PTO Tour schedule, the PTO Asian Open in Singapore is slated for April 12-14, which would give Charles-Barclay about three months of run training to prepare.